Warren, Markey ride MBTA leadership for answers about safety shortfalls

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey confronted state officials responsible for overseeing safety at the MBTA on Friday, citing several recent high-profile deaths, injuries, derailments and fires along the beleaguered transit system.

The senators said agency officials have had years to address the growing safety and financial problems at the T but have come up short. Warren said she wanted to have the hearing to hold transit officials accountable to the people of Massachusetts.

Citing a 2019 report from the Federal Transit Administration, Warren asked Department of Public Utilities Chair Matthew Nelson why he didn't do more to address the issues cited in the three years following its release.

"What were you doing in those first two years?" she asked. "This is your job is to oversee the MBTA. Where were you?"

"So I think that's a fair question and good," Nelson said in response. "The answer to that question is the department. When we took an assessment of the situation on the MBTA, we started to develop an a hiring plan to bring more and new people into the unit, the rail safety unit in 2020."

Sitting next to Nelson was T general manager Steve Poftak, who said officials are committed to continuing to make the T safer and more reliable.

“I want to state unequivocally today to the committee and to our customers that the system is safe but we can and will do better,” he said.

Warren then noted that all the problems the T has faced over the last four years have happened on Poftak’s watch.

"But here's what the investigation from the FTA found. I quote, 'MBTA's executive management that you does not consistently ensure its decisions related to safety risks are based on safety data or documented facts,' " Warren said. "I nearly fell over when I read that."

Also testifying at the hearing was Nuria Fernandez, the administrator for the federal transit administration. That’s the agency that helps oversee the T, and in August issued a scathing report of both the T and the Department of Public Utilities, the state agency that is supposed to oversee safety at the regional transit agency.

Fernandez made it clear that the federal government has no plans to take over the MBTA.

"Because we have been seen this notion in news reports, and I think it's important that I clarify. The Federal Transit Administration does not have the legal authority to take over the day to day operations of any transit agency in this nation," she said.

Fernandez also said the agency plans to continue to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants for the T.

But Warren wasn't satisfied with the answers from state officials. After the hearing, she said the leadership at the T needs to change.